Southern California Waterfalls: When is the best time to see them?

Advise For Timing A Visit To Witness Some Of The Southland's Hidden Gems

A hiker managed to time her visit well for Sturtevant Falls

When it comes to Southern California Waterfalls, Julie and I have received questions regarding their waterflow.

Even though we have seen our share of the ones in the Southland, we have come to realize that most of them require some degree of timing in order to see them flow satisfactorily.

This is especially true for the waterfalls that don’t tend to flow year-round (some that we’ve visited have a season as short as a few weeks!).

Paradise Falls seemed to be one of the few waterfalls in the Southland that had perennial flow

Indeed, we’ve had our share of pleasant surprises as well as disappointments. We’ve had to share waterfalls with crowds as well as enjoy quiet experiences devoid of people.

Let’s face it.

If you come to see waterfalls, you have a reasonable expectation of seeing them perform, especially if you (and your friends and family) go through the time and trouble of getting there.

So that’s where this page can be of help. We’re imparting our experiences to tell you what we know about waterfalling where we live.

Hopefully, you’ll find it of use to improve the odds of maximizing the enjoyment of your experience…

Rule 1: The Seasons

Snow flanking the base of San Antonio Falls

The first rule to consider when waterfalling in So Cal is the seasons.

Having lived here for most of our lives, we know that our Mediterranean climate means we get most of our precipitation in the Winter and early Spring months (around December through April).

Hills and canyons that are ordinarily dry and brown at other times of the year are actually green and semi-lush in the Spring

The rest of the year is pretty much devoid of measurable precipitation though we may experience mist from the coastal fog of a thick marine layer (in what’s known as June Gloom and more recently May Gray) or sporadic monsoonal downpours when some pop-up desert thunderstorms manage to make their way further west towards our neck of the woods.

That said, we’ve had some years where the “typical” seasonal rains have come as early as September or October and continue as late as June, but we’ll talk about these events later.

The bottom line is that based on these cyclical seasonal patterns alone, the best time of the year to go waterfalling in the Southland would be to time your visit for the Winter and early Spring months.

However, this comes with some caveats, which I’ll get to in the next rule.

Rule 2: Wet Year Or Dry Year?

On dry years, timing is everything, especially for short-seasoned waterfalls like La Jolla Canyon Falls where it can be dry even during a relatively moist Spring season

The second rule to consider when waterfalling in Southern California is to recognize what kind of year we are having. Are we having a wet year or a dry year?

I remembered growing up that this wasn’t as much of a consideration as the seasonal variations (described in the first rule) were pretty much a reliable indicator of when to time a visit to go waterfalling.

While Fish Canyon Falls may flow pretty well like this on a wet year, we’re keenly aware that it may not flow at all throughout the year if we have a dry Winter

However, it seems that over the years, this all-or-nothing climate pattern is becoming a more critical factor in predicting the likelihood of seeing a waterfall flow (let alone the water supply and wildfire issues Southern California faces in general).

In other words, we were either seeing really wet years (which some people would say is caused by “El Nino” conditions) or we were getting really dry years where we would get well below (if any at all) “normal” precipitation even in the historically wet months of January and/or February.

So under these “abnormally” dry years, I’d say that this rule would trump the seasonal precipitation rule 1.

So how do you know if we’re having a wet year or a dry year (especially if you don’t live here or haven’t been paying attention to our rainfall totals)?

Well, generally we start by paying attention to the press coverage in the local newspapers or the evening news when we haven’t seen any significant rain for the season and it’s already January or even February or later.

If we were real technical, I suppose we could also look at the hydrological data in Southern California’s watercourses. I’m pretty certain farmers and water companies would keep a real close eye on this data.

On a wet year like 2010, we were able to have a surprisingly nice visit to Big Falls as late in the Summer as August!

Anecdotally, Julie and I generally don’t really consider waterfalling until we have had at least some substantial rain storm (i.e. at least two or three consecutive days of rain or a series of storms coming regularly with a few days break in between them).

Whether this would occur in December or even as late as March, we tended to put our waterfalling on hold until then.

For example, in 2014 (the third consecutive year of drought conditions), we didn’t start our waterfalling until April, which followed a few very late season storms in March. In other years, we went waterfalling as early as December!

In dry years, timing is everything, especially for waterfalls that don’t flow year-round (which is the vast majority of them).

In wet years, we could be less choosier about which waterfalls to visit and when, though we also had to be aware of flash floods and landslides (especially if the soil was destabilized after a wildfire).

Rule 3: The Crowds

A huge crowd gathers in front of Eaton Canyon Falls, which was a typical scene on the weekends here

Up until now, this article had only focused on climate patterns in terms of seeing when a waterfall would flow.

However, we have also recognized over the years that crowds also made a big difference in the overall experience.

Urban blight could be a problem when trails are both popular and close to the city like it was for Eaton Canyon Falls

After all, when it’s crowded, that can certainly take away from the peaceful Naturesque experience we all seek when we go back to Nature, and it can especially become an issue when it concerns parking and traffic.

The only defense against this would be to avoid the times that we would expect the most people to show up, which tended to be on the weekends from the late morning to the early afternoon.

Come before the rush early in the morning, or on a weekday when most people would be fighting the notorious traffic on the LA freeways on the way to and from work, and we would likely be only one of a handful of people visiting.

Heck, we might even be the only ones there!

The parking situation could get really tight on a crowded day like it was the Saturday morning we tried to visit Sturtevant Falls in the Spring

While Julie and I have been surprised with a few exceptions here and there, this was a pretty good rule of thumb.

Another way to avoid crowds would be to find waterfalls that were more out-of-the-way or less known (probably because they’d require some degree of exertion and/or risk beyond what most people would do).

For example, Julie and I managed to avoid a weekend crowd when we visited Cooper Canyon Falls as well as Soldier Creek Falls simply because they took a while to drive to, and they involved a bit of dicey scrambling to reach.

Of course whether the risk to life and limb to us or family members tagging along to reach some of the more hidden spots was something we really needed to be honest with ourselves about.

Hopefully the information we’ve put forth in this article would be of help to stay informed as far as personal experiences and safety were concerned.

Conclusion

Enjoying Cedar Creek Falls in Ramona early in the Winter

Finally, you might have noticed that I had to put quotes around the words “normal” or “typical” in this write-up. This is because what was considered “normal” or “typical” in the past may not be that way anymore.

Extreme weather is becoming more of the norm in Southern California, and in 2017, the deluge of storms created the rare spectacle of the Dana Point Waterfall

The all-or-nothing property of our climate has become more dominant thanks to Global Warming and the subsequent Climate Change.

We’re even seeing this all-or-nothing property in the intensity of our storms (as infrequent and sporadic as they’re becoming) as well as the intensity of dry spells, especially our Santa Ana winds (offshore easterly winds that typically bring heat waves and low humidity to Southern California).

I know saying this will bring out the climate skeptics and become a political issue, but let’s call a spade and spade and tell it like it is.

There’s not a whole lot you can control on a macro scale on these things (especially given how the solutions run counter to the signals the world economy tells you how you should gain wealth), but there are things you can control in terms of how you respond to these things.

Waterfalls like the Portrero John Falls may not be accessible for several years after extended drought conditions created the firestorm that devastated the wilderness between Fillmore and Santa Barbara

And that’s where we hope this page can be of help in terms of maximizing the enjoyment of your waterfalling experience despite the circumstances.

So the bottom line is this.

Pay attention to our seasons and whether we’re having a wet or dry year. Then, decide on which waterfalls to visit based on these observations.

Once you’ve figured out what you want to do, then plan your visit accordingly while trying to avoid the crowds.

Do these things, and you’re more likely to have a pleasantly relaxing time rather than a stressful one…

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My wife and I love chasing waterfalls! In fact, our passion for waterfalling is so strong that we’ve not only traveled the world looking for them, but we’ve created this website to share our personal experiences with you! [more]

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Copyright 2018 World Of Waterfalls, All Rights Reserved
The content on this website may not be copied or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission.HOME ♦ PRIVACY POLICY

Affiliate Disclosure: We receive compensation from companies whose products or services are used, referenced, or reviewed regardless of whether we endorse or criticize them. We are independently owned so content written by us merely reflect our own opinions.